Lady Hopetoun and child

Born Ethelred Anne Birch Reynardson, her father was Charles Thomas Samuel Birch Reynardson of Holywell Hall, Lincolnshire. On 3 January 1860 she married John Alexander Hope (1831-1873), who in 1843, aged 12, had succeed to the title of 6th Earl of Hopetoun.

According to the website of Hopetoun House, the family's ancestral home in Scotland, 'The 6th Earl died of typhoid at the age of 42 after a brief life devoted to Paris and the Pytchley Hunt.'

Lady Hopetoun died on 15 October 1884, aged 46.

According to her obituary in The Times (16 October 1884): ‘The Countess of Hopetoun died at Hopetoun-house, South Queensferry, yesterday afternoon. She caught a chill about ten days ago, but it was only on Sunday that serious consequences were first apprehended. Lady Hopetoun was the eldest daughter of Mr Charles Thomas Samuel Birch Reynardson, of Holywell-hall. Her husband, the late earl, died in 1872; the present earl was born in 1860. Much regret is felt in the Hopetoun estate and district at the death of the Countess, who was held in high esteem by her tenants, and who endeared herself to all classes by her kindly disposition and the interest she took in schemes of a benevolent nature. The Prince and Princess of Wales, it will be remembered, paid a visit to Hopetoun-house in August last.'

The baby on her lap in this portrait is possibly her son John Adrian Louis Hope, born 25 September 1860, who later succeeded as the 7th Earl of Hopetoun. It may also be either of her younger children, Hon Charles Archibald Hope (1863-1888) or Lady Estella Mary Hope (1866-1958).

Photographed by Disdéri of Paris.